I agree with you. It would help if crews saw it from the other side. One airline I used to work for gave you a day in the terminal. Unfortunately one hour each at the check in desk, ticket desk, ops, gate, ramp etc doesn't really give much time to see what actually goes on. Maybe if all crews had to spend a week on the ground as part of their training it would help. As has been mentioned, realistic job ads would save alot of disappointment. I for one would not have bothered wasting anyone's time applying for a job which maybe was not what I was looking for (or paying the sort of money I needed).
Just to let you know, the crews do appreciate ground staff who know what they are doing even if they do grumble at times.